Canada’s labour minister said late Wednesday that “significant issues” remain in negotiations between the country’s two main rail companies and unions, making a nationwide rail shutdown almost certain.
Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon spoke to Global News in Calgary following a meeting with representatives of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, a day after he sat down with Canadian National and its union chapter in Montreal to urge all parties to reach a deal.
“I think it’s fair to say there are significant issues that remain to be resolved,” MacKinnon said. “But the parties are there and they’re doing the work, and we are obviously investing all of our efforts into making sure that they have everything they need to make the compromises required to get a deal.”
Freight trains across Canada are expected to come to a grinding halt as soon as 12:01 a.m. Thursday with roughly 9,000 railway employees nearing a looming strike or lockout date.
The rail companies and union have traded accusations of refusing to engage on certain sticking points, and mediators have been brought in to try and break the impasse over scheduling issues and safety concerns from workers.
A stoppage would disrupt supply chains not just within Canada but across the continent, with allied rail workers in the U.S. vowing their support for the Canadian Teamsters members on Wednesday.
MacKinnon said he travelled to Montreal and Calgary to represent “those who don’t have a voice at that table,” including business owners and workers whose goods won’t be shipped and “commuters, farmers, ranchers,” as well as average consumers.
“The economic consequences would be far-reaching, and the impact on everyday Canadians would be significant,” he said. “My job is to be there to remind these parties that their responsibilities go way beyond their own interests at this table, and that a lot of people are counting on them to get a deal.”
Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland urged both sides to reach a deal, warning of the economic consequences of a shutdown. Freeland said it was “unacceptable” for any party to risk a crisis she called a “self-inflicted wound.”
Yet the federal government has so far resisted calls, including from some premiers, to intervene, which MacKinnon stood firm on.
“We know that the most enduring, best business deals, for both employers and employees, are made at the negotiating table,” he said.
“Sometimes, deadlines tend to focus the mind … Sometimes you get some momentum and they can get resolved quickly. That’s what what our hope is.”
MacKinnon would not say if he or the government would be willing to recall Parliament before it’s scheduled to return on Sept. 16 to resolve a shutdown, but noted it’s “not something that can be recalled on a dime.”
The CPKC network connects Canada to Mexico through the United States, meaning a shutdown would also affect North American supply chains at large.
A representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, one of the largest U.S. rail unions affiliated with the Teamsters, told Global News its 51,000 members have been told not to cross any physical picket lines related to the labour dispute.
That would mean American rail workers can refuse to operate trains once they reach the Canadian border from the U.S., and won’t be replacing Canadian workers who walk off the job, the representative said on background to share internal communications.
U.S. union members would still be required to take over for Canadian workers who walked off the job while operating trains in the U.S., the representative stressed, citing U.S. federal labour laws.
“Our TCRC brothers and sisters have 100 per cent of our support in their struggle with CPKC and CN,” BLET national president Edward Hall said in a statement Wednesday.
“Just as corporate greed is out of control in America, so too is the case in Canada.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on social media Monday that his department was monitoring the Canadian labour negotiations closely, along with any potential impacts to cross-border shipments.
MacKinnon said he “exchanged voicemails” Wednesday with his U.S. counterpart, acting Labour Secretary Julie Su, and that Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez has engaged with Buttigieg.
“I know they’re watching this very closely,” he said, noting the potential impacts across North America. “That is not something that the government of Canada will be indifferent to.”
The U.S. union representative also pushed back on suggestions that the trucking industry could fill the supply chain gaps left by the rail stoppage, calling the idea “absurd” given the ongoing labour shortage among truck drivers.
Stephen Laskowski, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, also pointed to labour and capital shortages within the trucking industry in an interview with Global News on Wednesday.
“No trucking company is going to go out and add extra capital or extra labour because of a strike,” he said.
He added trucking can only help in a “limited” way.
“One train is worth about 300 trucks. There’s so much extra needed capacity. And for large items, for bulk items, for large machinery, there really is no alternative to rail.”
— with files from Uday Rana